This is a guest post from K. Sean Packard, CPA, who is Director of Tax at OFS. He specializes in tax planning and the preparation of tax returns for pro athletes. He can be reached at sean.packard@ofswealth.com and on Twitter at @AthleteTax.

Quarterback Joe Flacco took home the Super Bowl MVP trophy Sunday night for leading the Baltimore Ravens over the San Francisco 49ers. Flacco is a free agent and is headed for a massive payday before next season, as top quarterbacks now command salaries of at least $15 million a year. Before inking his big contract, Flacco has a more immediate financial decision to make.

Flacco was awarded a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, worth an estimated $60,000, as Super Bowl MVP. The tax implications of winning the automobile are simple if he keeps the car. Flacco will owe about $25,700 in income taxes. But what if he does not want the car?

If he donates the car, he will have to work his way through a messy web of IRS rules. First, Flacco will recognize the $60,000 value of the car as income. This will increase his adjusted gross income by that amount (less the self employment tax deduction), thereby limiting his itemized deductions by about $1,800. Then, his charitable deduction will be limited to the amount for which the charity sells the car to a third party. If the charity opts not sell the car, he may deduct the car’s value on the date it is donated, which means he (or the charity) would need to hire a qualified appraiser to value the car. Once a car leaves the lot, it loses about 20% of its value, so his deduction would be $48,000, not the $60,000 he recognized as income. All told, if Flacco donates the car to charity, he will still owe the IRS $6,900.

If the charity is smart when putting the car on the market, it would advertise it as the car Joe Flacco won as Super Bowl MVP. This would likely yield the charity a premium by selling the car as a collector’s item. Unfortunately, Flacco would only be able to deduct his basis in the car (the value he included in income). If this happens, he still loses $2,400.

The IRS has a provision allowing the recipient of an award to avoid recognizing its value as income if he directs the payor to donate the award directly to charity if the following factors are met:

The prize or award was made primarily in recognition of religious, charitable, scientific, educational, artistic, literary or civic achievement;

The recipient was selected without any action on his part to enter the contest or proceeding; and

The recipient is not required to render substantial future services as a condition to receiving the prize or award

The problem is that back in 1961, Paul Hornung tried to exclude the value of the Corvette he won for being named MVP of the NFL Championship Game—back when awards were tax-exempt without the winner needing to donate them to charity. The Tax Court ruled the Corvette was income, stating that “professional football is not an activity which is ‘educational,’ ‘artistic,’ ‘scientific,’ or ‘civic’.” While the popularity and significance of the NFL on American culture has greatly expanded since this case was determined in 1967, Hornung is still the legal precedent.

If Flacco sells the car, he is not allowed to deduct the loss, because the sale of a car that was not obtained for investment purposes is considered personal. If he sells it for a profit, he will pay 15% federal tax on that gain.

So even if Flacco neither needs nor wants the car, he is stuck with a tax bill of between $2,400 and $6,900 for winning the MVP. It is a tradeoff Flacco will take every time.

Update: This is updated from the original post, which stated that Flacco could exclude the income from his return if he directed Chevrolet to donate it to charity.